Best practices for driving in extreme cold

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

Please note: If you ask Alexa to "turn on the tushy warmer" she will add a sushi warmer to your cart.

I recently asked Alexa something along the lines of "what can you do?" and she said she could turn on the heated steering wheel. So I asked, and she did. She calls it something weird though. Not a "heated steering wheel". A "wheel warmer" or something.

Of course considering how middling these things are, I'd call it a "lukewarm wheel" instead. ?

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[bgg1]

I recently asked Alexa something along the lines of "what can you do?" and she said she could turn on the heated steering wheel. So I asked, and she did. She calls it something weird though. Not a "heated steering wheel". A "wheel warmer" or something.

I've tried asking Alexa to turn on the heated steering wheel and it worked, but it's definitely not consistent.

Of course considering how middling these things are, I'd call it a "lukewarm wheel" instead. ?

I notice how underwhelming the heated seats are on the Rivian when I compared it to my rental Chevy Equinox while the Rivian is in the shop. That thing heats up very fast and the heat goes up nearly to my shoulders.

 

[ksurfier]

I’ve been testing on my 1200 mile road trip. Today is not cold. But yesterday was cold and windy. If I didn’t have it on auto, I could not get enough heat to stay warm. My short testing seems heat has little to do with range. Speed, wind and temperature seem to affect more. I used my seat heater a lot yesterday. It was the only way I could get warm.

today is pretty easy driving. Sun is up temperature is just above freezing and little to no wind. Range is still pretty bad. 1.5 m/kw

The impact to range is primarily related to 3 factors:
Humans and batteries both like to be around 70 f plus or minus 10 f. Other than preconditioning and making more frequent supercharging stops, only diving slower can improve the amount of battery used for heating. Air density increases which affects drag by 10% or so. Potentially range is impacted as follows:
Battery heating impact 10%
cabin heating impact 10-20%
Aero drag 10%
Total range reduction 30-40%
so if normal MPK is 2.3, cold weather (10f) might be 1.5 MPK.
If cabin heat is used carefully, getting closer to 2 MPK is possible especially if you slow down.

 

[JohnB]

I was at the SC today, and they gave me some tricks about heating the cabin. Cabin warmth will be affected since the battery needs to get warmed up before YOU. So obviously you're best off using the Climate Scheduling in advance of jumping into the rig on a cold day.
But I thought these tips were interesting from the SC to increase hastening the cabin warmth :
-use the Auto function
-turn on middle seat heating
-turn on Recirculate

Live in Minny so there's occasions like last week where its sub-10 degrees with the wind howling.
Wifey complained that the fan was just blowing cold air. Can't win. Usually she says I'm full of hot air.

 

[Gen2R1T2025]

Yes, when you set up a new scheduled preconditioning time, there is a toggle at the bottom of the configuration page:

Not seeing this menu. Is this on the phone app or in the vehicle? Gen 1 or Gen 2? Or both?

 

[Gen2R1T2025]

I Don't see this on my phone app, is it only available on the truck screen?

Same here. Gen 2 R1T LFP

 

[tate16t]

Not seeing this menu. Is this on the phone app or in the vehicle? Gen 1 or Gen 2? Or both?

For the Gen 1 within the mobile app its under climate at the bottom, click schedule and when you configure a schedule this option appears at the bottom.

 

[tate16t]

Same here. Gen 2 R1T LFP

Do Gen 2’s have a schedule option?

 

[Jacopa]

@mikehmb said it, @Billofaustin2, but he didn't elaborate. So I will.

Heating bodies directly (seat warmers, steering wheel warmers) uses a little bit of energy.

Heating bodies by heating the air around the bodies (cabin heater) uses a lot of energy.

Use the seat warmers and steering wheel warmers first. This allows you to use the cabin heater sparingly, while still giving you and passengers an enjoyable trip.

Very best wishes!

Remember, all the creature comforts, ie, seat warmers use 12v batteries not HV battery…

 

[Gen2R1T2025]

Do Gen 2’s have a schedule option?
[/QU

No. Not seeing it. Need to do it

Do Gen 2’s have a schedule option?

Not seeing it. I dont think it does. I am planning to do it manually via the app 15 minutes before departure

 

[Jacopa]

And drag increases by the square of speed, meaning the faster you go the drag increases EXPONENTIALLY! Keep as much crap off your brick, er, car as possible. Minimize roof racks, snow, ice etc. Slow down, use seat heaters and wheel heaters.. and remember, count on a 3rd less range….

 

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

But I thought these tips were interesting from the SC to increase hastening the cabin warmth :
-use the Auto function

Man, I gotta say. It's cold were I am right now so I tried the "Auto" function last night after reading this thread and it immediately turned off my center vents, turned on the vents by my feet, turned on the defroster for some inexplicable reason, turned off "recirculate", and turned the fan to "Medium", which is far too loud for my liking. This is literally the opposite of my preferred settings and I just don't like it.

I know a lot of people swear by "auto". I see you say even Rivian recommends "auto". But I don't like my HVAC to do wild and unpredictable things. Mine gets plenty warm just putting the fan speed on the lowest or second-lowest dot and controlling the vents myself. Maybe I just got lucky and got "a good one", but I will continue to swear by the "auto" setting being less effective than just controlling it yourself. #shrug ?

 

[bgg1]

Unfortunately not available in Gen 2. Reportedly coming in a future update.

 

[bfilippo]

Unfortunately not available in Gen 2. Reportedly coming in a future update.

This. If there’s one thing I’m annoyed by it’s this. I got the Gen2 expecting the widest set of tech features, including this that my Tesla does very well. But this is weirdly not available despite Gen2 being out for several months now. Living in Maine, and actually having a cold winter this year, I really need this feature turned on asap Rivian. Please?

 

[HyperionMark]

Anyone know what the cutoff is for motor and/or battery heating?

This year I've seen the battery down to 36 (motor temps a touch higher) and it hasn't tried to heat it up anymore and I had full regen. Seems like it years past it was a higher cutoff for trying to heat the battery. FWIW I was in Conserve. That may lower the threshold a little bit.

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